Embracing the “Bad Tester” Mentality

Hello Peeps,

Welcome back to another interesting blog. We hope this title intrigued you here. 

Are you a Bad Tester? 

In our testing journey, we received this label at least once. Especially a few years back when it was all waterfall world, testing was assumed to be the easiest and simplest job. And we were blamed for any miss in production. Also, we weren’t included in the technical meetings or discussions saying it’s too technical for the testing team. Have you been in the same boat? You might have experienced this painful situation in your testing career. A lot of things are changing in recent years and this agile environment is contributing so much towards the inclusion of testing teams from the early stages of development. 

We as Testers are juggling multiple roles today and contributing to the technical discussions. If someone still refers to you as a “Bad Tester”, I want you to not consider it a bad label. Grab that opportunity and shed light on an often-overlooked aspect of the strong software tester mindset. 

In this blog post, we will explore the concept of being a “Bad Tester,” break the myth of perfection, and celebrate the invaluable lessons that can be gleaned from embracing this persona.

The Myth of Perfection

“Have no fear of perfection – you’ll never reach it” – Salvador Dali, Spanish Artist.

Testing, by its very nature, is rooted in the pursuit of perfection. People expect everything to be perfect when it comes to Testing. They imagine that all the mess can be fixed during the testing phase. Testers should wear multiple hats and they don’t require any technical or product knowledge. 

Testers are expected to find defects, report and track them, identify weaknesses and potential vulnerabilities, and ensure that software meets the highest standards of quality. If anything goes wrong in production, testers are easily blamed. Not in all places, it’s still happening in a few places. However, in our search for perfection, we often forget that testers, too, are human beings. The expectation of flawless execution can be suffocating, leading testers to avoid risk-taking, not helping to think outside of the box, experimentation, and innovation for fear of failure. We can aim for perfection and work towards it, but focusing only on it could be really meaningless and stressful. 

Breaking the Mold

It’s been a while since we have all been labeled as a “Bad Tester” for doing the right things. It is time to challenge the notion that a “Bad Tester” means being incompetent. On the contrary, the “Bad Tester” is an archetype of brave vulnerability, unafraid to make mistakes, willing to learn, and eager to grow. We need to speak out on this. 

Embracing the “Bad Tester” mentality involves stepping outside perfectionism and embracing the messy, trying things out of the comfort zone, a tumultuous journey of self-discovery and constant improvement, and consistent and lifelong learning. 

Key Attributes of a “Bad Tester”

• Courage: The “Bad Tester” possesses the courage to challenge the status quo, question assumptions, and push boundaries.
• Curiosity: Curiosity fuels the “Bad Tester’s” insatiable thirst for knowledge, driving them to explore new technologies, methodologies, and perspectives. It helps them to explore multiple tools and ask crazy questions.
• Creativity: Embracing the “Bad Tester” mentality unlocks a world of creative possibilities, allowing for innovative solutions and unconventional approaches to testing challenges. This helps improve the overall process and helps to save time.
• Collaboration: The “Bad Tester” recognizes the value of collaboration, seeking feedback, mentorship, and support from peers to continuously improve their craft.
• Communication: The “Bad Tester” communicates effectively with the stakeholders and the project team and provides timely updates. It also maintains a good rapport with the developers and the technical team. 
• Attentive: Bad Testers are very attentive and they are very good listeners. They listen and comprehend the information. Document the details whenever required.

Learning from Failure

“We need to accept that we won’t always make the right decisions, that we’ll screw up royally sometimes – understanding that failure is not the opposite of success, it’s part of success.” ― Arianna Huffington, Greek-American author

Mistakes happen everywhere. If we are bound to stop or cease progress with mistakes, then we are doomed forever. We should recall our childhood learning “Failures are the stepping stones to success”. Failure is not a mark of weakness but a badge of honor for the “Bad Tester.” Each mistake made, misstep taken, mishap happened, and oversight is an opportunity for growth and learning. Testers can acquire resilience, adaptability, and humility in the face of adversity by perceiving failure as a stepping stone toward success.

The Power of Reflection

Self-reflection helps to overcome the failure and mitigate the outcomes from the failures. We do this by asking multiple questions ourselves and trying to find answers to them. Being aware of your strengths can help you capitalize on them whilst being aware of your weaknesses can help you to work and improve them.

• Self-Awareness: Retrospection helps software testers gain a deeper understanding of their strengths, weaknesses or limitations, biases, motivations, and improvement areas to make better decisions and enhance their performance. This helps software testers to be more effective in their role and make better decisions., which in turn improves the efficacy of testing. 
• Continuous Improvement: It’s critical to take responsibility for your mistakes rather than diverting the blame elsewhere. Keep track of the mistakes, process them, and reflect on them. By analyzing past mistakes and wins, testers can understand more about the patterns, define or refine their strategies, and improve or change their testing approach over time.
• Community Support: Community is the heart of everything. People share and learn along with the testing community. In this virtual world, testers all over the globe are closely connected through communities. These communities foster a culture of learning, mentorship, and mutual support, enriching the collective knowledge and expertise of testers worldwide. 
• Practice empathy: Being aware of your own emotions is an important skill, and we are quite aware of this. It’s equally important to be aware of other’s feelings. Practicing empathy can help you better understand the perspectives and needs of your team members and stakeholders. It also helps to create a greater bond within the team and creates overall an optimistic work ambiance.
• Seek feedback: Being open to constructive criticism and feedback. You should be reaching your team and leaders to provide feedback on your performance. This can help you gain a better understanding of your work and how you can improve on the areas of improvement.
• Challenge your biases: As a human, we all have biases, but we as software testers need to be aware of them. Learning about the biases is the first step to react towards it. Biases influence our decisions and actions without us even realizing it. Take time to reflect on your biases and be aware of how they could affect the testing process and deliverables.
• Set goals: Goals are the fuel for your everyday activities. Analyze your current skill set and position. Based on it, set realistic goals. They help you to stay consistent. 

Read our blog on Software Testing Skills

Embracing Diversity and Inclusion

The “Bad Tester” mentality transcends borders, cultures, and backgrounds, welcoming individuals of all experiences, skill levels, and perspectives into the testing community. Diversity and inclusion are not merely buzzwords but crucial to innovation, creativity, and excellence in the overall testing process. Being open and broad-minded can lead the way to multiple opportunities and help in building a more inclusive product or application. 

Cultivating Empathy

• Empathy: The “Bad Tester” empathizes with end-users, stakeholders, and colleagues, recognizing the impact of their work and appreciating them whenever needed. 
• Inclusivity: Embracing diversity and inclusion fosters a culture of belonging, respect, and empowerment, where every voice is heard, valued, and celebrated. Using inclusive language in all communications and documentation also matters. 
• Global Impact: By embracing diverse perspectives and experiences, testers can uncover hidden biases, assumptions, and blind spots, leading to more thorough, inclusive, and robust testing practices. While working in the global environment, testers learn multiple things. 
• Diversity in Leadership: Diversity applies not only to the teams but also to leadership and managerial positions. Giving equal opportunities to everyone can help build a diverse organization and their diversified experiences and opinions can add value to the team and the entire organization.

Conclusion

Being a Tester is hard. We have seen multiple changes and evolvements through these years. Ultimately all the changes helped us to evolve, learn, and enhance ourselves. We have had our bad days, some are good, really good. In the end, we always struggled and gave out the best of everything. 

When you are too good, you also face some consequences. It’s part of that, you might be labeled as a “Bad Tester”. 

To summarize, the “Bad Tester” is not a pariah but rather a pioneer, challenging the status quo, defying expectations, and reshaping the narrative of testing excellence. Sometimes being too good is labeled as bad because not everyone acknowledges or accepts it. Together we can unlock our potential, promote a culture of continuous learning and improvement, and build a more inclusive, innovative, and resilient testing community. Let us celebrate the “Bad Tester” within us all and embark on a journey of fearless exploration, boundless creativity, and transformative growth.